With the bacteria and parasites eating the corpse gone, it also takes care of the bloating problem and most heat related problems.
So yea, depends of how the zombies are created of what causes it. Normal dead people wouldnt just rise up ad start biting people in the first place.

How exactly could a zombie walk if he had no gut bacteria to provide him with energy? Why should he eat brain if he has not way to digest it and turn the brains into energy he needs to move?

You guys should read the Newsflash series - it's a "zombie" series where it's infection, not zombies, and includes hivemind/ semi-intelligent zombies when they're grouped up... as well as the fact that anything over 50lbs has the potential to go zombie, regardless of species

Hmm if the zombies were intelligent needed to feast on humans to keep sane and from rotting AND the hunger they felt was like a powerful drugs addiction in that they constantly feel the need to feast id say that would make zombies scary as hell.

Given how badly people tend to fare against the usual mindless zombie eating machines, even a slight increase in intelligence or cunning would be trouble. If they were every bit as smart us we'd be fucked eventually.

If you're interested in this type of idea, I'd recommend the Stephen King book "Cell". There aren't really zombies in the book in the traditional sense, more in the sense of 28 days/weeks later (but still, not a virus), but the "changed" people in the book.... well, I don't want to spoil anything, even though nobody here will probably read it anyway. Though just by the nature of linking it with the subject of this thread is sort of a spoiler in itself, so, I apologize if you do decide to read it.

It looks like it actually might be made into a movie relatively soon which I'd love to see if it ever actually makes it to the screen.

Last page of that mentions tazers. If there's one thing we know, it's that tazering a Zombie in the head won't work. Hell, unless the brain itself is destroyed/the head is removed, you basically just provided the electricity it needs to allow the brain and nervous system to refunction and the heart to restart, essentially creating something between human and zombie... so quasi-deads? Better get Riddick. Fuck guns and ammunition, a guy who can jump over ravines, hide behind rocks and use a pair of knives would be enough.

Also, if the zombie is Bear Grylls... well, we all know it can sustain itself without needing to eat us. Suddenly, we've got a forest of zombie bears, zombie squirrels, and zombie badgers that drink their own piss.

If you're interested in this type of idea, I'd recommend the Stephen King book "Cell". There aren't really zombies in the book in the traditional sense, more in the sense of 28 days/weeks later (but still, not a virus), but the "changed" people in the book.... well, I don't want to spoil anything, even though nobody here will probably read it anyway. Though just by the nature of linking it with the subject of this thread is sort of a spoiler in itself, so, I apologize if you do decide to read it.

It looks like it actually might be made into a movie relatively soon which I'd love to see if it ever actually makes it to the screen.

I read that book and it reminded me a bit of I am Legend and it does have a bit of that hive mind thing going for it as well if I remember correctly. I wish they would make a movie out it because the idea behind it and the amount of people that use cellphones would make for a good horror story.

We have a few situations here:
At a certain level of intellegence you'd recognize that not perminently killing your prey would result in food competition. Thus the disease wouldn't necessarily spread. It would be more like a man hunt for a few people who live like vampires.

B) People sure as hell freeze up. I do it. My house was broken into about a month ago. I froze in a doorway when I heard the window break. I scared them off when they saw me in the doorway. I won, because I froze.
C) Some people may very well fight harder to live in extreme situations; others just give up. The "will to live" stuff is a load of bullshit. With my own eyes I've seen people give up on life.

Also, why do you keep putting random ' marks around things? The only time those are supposed to be used is a quote inside a quote.

B) Ouch, I don't think thats the standard reaction though. Most people get scared thats true, but people don't actually freeze up as often as in the movies.

C) And with my own eyes, I've seen people clinging onto a life not worth living.

I use ' marks to emphasize certain phrases. In particular, to denote a special usage of a phrase.